The world has entered into a new era with information technology being progressed rapidly. All kinds of information products and peripheral devices (e.g., notebook computers, personal computers, servers, external boxes for HDDs (hard disk drives) MP3s, mobile phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), digital cameras, etc.) are commercially available in a faster pace. The trend of developing the above products is slimness, compactness, and lightweight in consideration of weight and size. Therefore, people are more willing to buy and use such portable electronic products in their work and daily life. In another aspect, people have an increasing demand to the features and quality of the portable electronic products. These portable electronic products not only increase the speed and efficiency of information communication but also bring a lot of convenience to our daily life and work.
Currently, some electronics manufacturers spend a lot of money and time in developing a type of electronic product called “external box for HDD”. An external box for HDD enables a user to have an increased amount of data storage space in a quick, easy, and convenient way so as to keep up with this information explosion era. An external box for HDD is a housing made of metal or hard plastics. At least one HDD is releasably mounted in the housing. Each HDD is electrically connected to circuitry mounted in the housing such that in operation the HDD may be employed by a personal computer or a server. Also, a user can easily add a new HDD in the external box to increase data storage space without involving detaching the case of the personal computer or the server. Typically, there are two types of external box available.
(i) The first one comprises an outer housing and an inner housing. The outer housing is affixed to a personal computer or server and a HDD is contained in the inner housing. Next, mount the inner and outer housings together after inserting the inner housing into the personal computer or the server. For removing a HDD from the inner housing simply detach the inner housing from the outer housing and remove the desired HDD from the inner housing. However, the first type of external box undesirably consumes a precious internal space of the personal computer or the server. Further, only one HDD per replacement is allowed. Furthermore, it involves detaching the personal computer or the server prior to mounting the outer housing. Thus, its operation is very inconvenient.
(ii) The second one comprises a seat and a housing. Circuitry is mounted in the seat. The circuitry is electrically connected to a HDD via busses. Next, mount the housing and the seat together with the HDD, the busses, and the circuitry. The external box is electrically connected to the personal computer or the server via USB or IEEE 1394 lines. As such, in operation the HDD can be employed by the personal computer or the server. However, the second type of external box suffered from a number of disadvantages. For example, a great number of times of unplugging and plugging the busses are required in an operation of detaching a HDD from the seat. Thus, the busses are prone to breaking. Further, the seat is affixed to the HDD by means of screws. This can damage the HDD if sufficient care is not taken. Furthermore, its operation is very inconvenient.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a novel external box for HDDs having a quick release mechanism and a simple structure, and being diversified in its design in order to attract more consumers to buy and therefore overcome the inadequacies of the prior art.